Personal foul! Joe Pytka, director of the original Space Jam, has some thoughts on the new sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy — and they’re not great. “The truth is that LeBron [James] ain’t Michael [Jordan],” the music video director, 82, told TMZ on Wednesday, July 21, adding that James, 36, doesn’t have the same level of cultural recognition that Jordan, 58, had in the ’90s.
Pytka also told the outlet he thought the movie needed a bigger connection to the Los Angeles Lakers guard’s personal life, which was fictionalized in the script, and said it took him five different viewings to finish watching the 115-minute film.
Finally, he took issue with the animation of Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes, saying that it “looked like one of those fluffy dolls you buy at an airport gift shop to bring your kid when your business trip has taken too long.
Despite the criticisms of Pytka — and many other reviewers — Space Jam: A New Legacy seems to be a hit, taking in $31.7 million at the box office during its opening weekend and beating out Black Widow as the top release. The film was also available to stream via HBO Max as of Friday, July 16, making its high box office numbers even more impressive.
